CHROMOPHOBIA Contracts, and Some Real Talk

It’s Friday, so let’s get to it:

CHROMOPHOBIA short-story contracts have been finalized and sent to the editor to review. After that, as long as all is well, contracts ought to begin making their way to writers. Now, don’t get too excited just yet, as this may take another week or so to begin happening.

Everybody is incredibly busy, everyone is juggling, and this to say nothing of the impending holidays and the threat of having to buy a new calendar. 2022 looms large! What fresh Hell will the next year bring? We don’t know, but we are all ready sleepy because of it.

And that is that, as far as exciting news goes!

But, how about some not exciting news? A little “insider baseball” talk, if you’re in to that type of thing. Let’s talk about anthologies. Specifically, our anthologies.

About two months ago, we published an article titled “Hardcover Pre-order Info; Final Hardcover Art; The Hard Art Of Setting Expectations” and in that article we wrote the following:

For CHROMOPHOBIA to be a success, financially, the book will have to move many copies. If we were to use only the hardcover release as a barometer of said success, then we would need to move about 140 hardcovers. Now, we don’t necessarily think we will hit those numbers in hardcover, but you never know. Considering that, though, whatever we don’t move via hardcover will need to be made up by paperback sales, later in the year.

This is called “Dreaming Big” and it is part and parcel of navigating the world of publishing. Or, any field wherein one hopes to create and sell art. This is why we referenced “the hard art of setting expectations” and, sometimes, you gotta be happy just breaking even.

Them’s the breaks! But, you know, this is the reality of what we do. Not a complaint, just an acknowledgment.

The article had a fair number of views (as far as our stats go), so I thought we should revisit this sentiment, but focus on being a little more explicit.

We released NOT ALL MONSTERS in 2020. First, the anthology came out in a limited hardcover and paperback edition. Then, a few months later it was released via Amazon. The Kindle has only recently been made available. The most interesting part of all this is that NOT ALL MONSTERS has only ever broken even, and it didn’t even do that until this year. And, all this after the book received good reviews, good press, and found itself nominated for a Stoker Award.

That’s… not great!

Despite all that, here we are with a second anthology and CHROMOPHOBIA has quite a bit riding on it, not gonna lie. I will be 100% honest, if this book performs much like NOT ALL MONSTERS, then there won’t be any more traditional anthologies from Rooster Republic Press/Strangehouse Books. They’re simply too expensive for a little outfit like ours. Single-author titles outperform anthologies and, I mean it, it’s absolutely no contest between the two.

Now, CHROMOPHOBIA is off to an okay start. All of the numbered hardcovers have been spoken for! We were not expecting to see those go as quickly as they did. You gotta take the good with the bad, though. Not a single person took advantage of our “Cyber Monday” sale. On top of that, we haven’t seen a single pre-order come in for the limited hardcover. And I don’t mean the numbered edition. I am speaking of the standard, limited hardcover. Nada, zip, zilch.

Still, it is very early days and we haven’t even announced a TOC, so I cannot say I am terribly surprised. If anything, I am surprised we moved what we have. I can only assume that people like the work we do, and know what to expect. Eternally thankful for those folks.

Here’s what I am going to do. Occasionally, throughout the next year and change, I will be writing articles about CHROMOPHOBIA: what it costs; how it’s selling, etc.

I have no doubt these articles will be of interest to at least a handful of you. Looking forward too it, whatever the outcome.

TTFN,

Nicholas Day